Friday, September 23, 2016

State Elections need not be held at the same time as Federal Elections. When UMNO-BN ruled almost all States and the Federal government, they decided to have Federal and State Elections at the same time. Must this continue? The answer is 'NO' - States need not follow the Federal government - it can call State General Elections at any time...

Now, some are worried that the re-delineation exercise may result in a risk that UMNO-BN will manage to win in the next General Elections, and take over the Selangor State government. Hence, the call for an early elections in Selangor...

The question is whether, even without any re-delineation exercise, will the Opposition pact manage to still get the support of the people of Selangor?

Has things really changed in Selangor State after the Opposition pact started governing Selangor? Is there more transparency and accountability? Local Council elections? Abolition of tol highways - did not Menteri Besar Azmin sign new agreements for new tol Highways? Parking Rates? Accountable and transparent state GLCs? Worker Rights? Some say things have not changed save new people in leadership and maybe new 'cronnies'? With or without a re-delineation exercise, the Opposition pact may not be able to retain Selangor...unless there are significant changes now...

What about the amendment of the Selangor State Constitution, to bring it in line with the Federal Constitution, allowing for the ADUN which has the majority support in the State Legislative Assembly to become Menteri Besar? Well, the Opposition pact had the necessary number of ADUNs to effect a State Constitutional amendment - why did they not do this?

In the last General Elections, the biggest factor that enabled a bigger Opposition victory was the failings of the UMNO-BN government - the abuses of power, corruption, breaches of promises, etc ..and that was sufficient for the people to want a change ...a 'TUKAR'.

But, come next elections, people will also be looking at the report card of the Opposition coalition State government and if they are not happy, they will do another 'TUKAR'(change) again...It happened in the past when it came to Kedah and Trengganu...

FIX THE DATE OF THE SELANGOR STATE ELECTIONS - APRIL/MAY 2018?

Azmin's response to the call for a snap elections in Selangor is that '...the mandate delivered to the state government by voters in
the 2013 general election must be respected and should not be cast aside
for political expediency...'Well, the people's mandate is for 5 years, and maybe the Selangor MB should now fix the date for the next State Elections - FIX THE DATE FOR THE STATE ELECTIONS NOW. The last General Elections took place on 5th May 2013 - so let us now fix the date for the next Selangor State Elections in May 2018. DECIDE ON THE DATE NOW.

Or, is Azmin lying? Will he use 'political expediency' later on to fix an earlier election date? Will he just follow Najib and have the State Elections on the same date as the Parliamentary Elections? Have GUTS and fix the date of the Selangor State Elections...

FIXED State and Federal Elections dates is positive and good. It provides certainty, and maybe it is time for Malaysia to have FIXED ELECTION DATES.

The only exception would be if there arises a situation where there is alleged corruption or abuses of power against the Prime Minister, Menteri Besar or the Chief Minister of a state, or the respective government, which will require a going back to the people for a renewed mandate possibly by way of a 'snap' elections if the leaders elect not to step aside. This happened in Penang, and now is also happening to Najib.

PENANG was confronted with a dilemma when the Chief Minister was charged for 'corruption' ...an abuse of his position as the head of the government in Penang. Guilty or not is really irrelevant - for that is a matter for the courts to decide...but clearly, such is a situation where there must be a renewed mandate of the people to enable the said Chief Minister (Lim Guan Eng of DAP) to continue to govern the state.

A renewed mandate could be achieved by several ways - one of which is by a 'public referendum' - where the people of the State could say whether they are still OK with Guan Eng as the government leader. The other option is a State Elections - this will also enable the people to decide whether they still want a Guan Eng led coalition government to govern the state. DAP was desirous of this but coalition partners, especially PKR, were opposed to this idea. So, no State Elections. Hence, only option would have been for Guan Eng to resign or alternatively remain as Chief Minister but only in name - his duties and roles to be carried out by the 2nd in command...

Najib Razak has been called to resign for alleged wrongdoings - but he has yet to be charged. Now, what happened in Penang, with no resignation, no referendum and no State Elections makes it difficult to morally justify any further calling by this Opposition coalition for the call for Najib's resignation. They have just lost that moral high ground when Guan Eng continued to stay on as Chief Minister...

The justification used in both Guan Eng's and Najib's case is the same, is it not? The quantum of monies is irrelevant - one who 'misappropriates' RM1 or RM 1 billion is just as guilty? Of course, supporters will say that their leader is not guilty - and others will say guilty ...Reasons like 'politically motivated', 'conspiracy' etc will always be used to silence critics.

Opposition to Constituency Delineation should be from the people, ADUNs and MPs - not State or Federal Governments?

The question ultimately is the support of the people...changing of electoral constituency boundaries should really not affect the support of the people, or should it now? For the MP or ADUN, maybe a change of boundaries has an effect because a lot of work has been done for his/her constituents, which now may be 'wasted' effort as they who have been properly served now may not be able to vote in the same constituency come next elections, and those who were not served by reason of being in some other constituency now is in his constituency, who will decide the outcome for the next elections.

But, this argument does not apply for the coalition that formed the Selangor government for their duty has always been to serve ALL the people of Selangor, irrespective of the fact that they are in the constituencies of Coalition ADUNs or not? If Azmin and the Selangor government has been good for all the people, then no worries even if there has been a re-delineation of constituencies.

Objections to re-delineation exercises should be about equal rights - i.e. that all constituencies must be of the same size in terms of the number of constituents. Unfair for the people, if one constituency has 100,000 voters and another has 40,000 voters. The difference in terms of numbers should be +/- 5%. The other factor should be land area - there may be lesser number of voters in a rural constituency but again, the difference should be not more that 15-20%, in my opinion.

So, Azmin wants to respect the mandate of the people - FIX the dates of the next Selangor State Elections in April/May 2018 now.

Its chairman Tony Pua said, the decision was reached during the party’s
emergency meeting held yesterday and has been forwarded to the Pakatan
Harapan top leadership.

“We came to a consensus following an emergency meeting held yesterday. It would be better for Pakatan Harapan to hold state elections before the redelineation exercise is approved.

“This is what we have decided but the final call will be made by the
Pakatan Harapan top leadership,” he said at a press conference held at
the party’s headquarters here today.

Yesterday, Selangor DAP
identified seven state assembly seats that will fall back to the hands
of Barisan Nasional (BN) in Selangor should the redelineation exercise
proposed by the EC be approved.

According to Pua, based on 2013
voting patterns, the seats involved are Sabak, Hulu Kelang, Sementa,
Selat Kelang, Pelabuhan Kelang, Sijangkang and Morib.

As such, he said, BN will be able to secure at least 10 more state assembly seats.

The Petaling Jaya Utara MP said, issues concerning the mandate given by
the people does not arise because elections need not necessarily be
held exactly four years to date as they can also be extended up to four
and a half years. “I believe the voters out there will continue to give their mandate through state elections that are not manipulated,” he said.

Pua added, the situation in Selangor is different from other states as
it needs the consent of the Sultan for a state election to be held.

“The Sultan of Selangor will definitely make a decision on the matter,
but from a political perspective, we need to make a decision whether
elections need to be carried out or not.

“We cannot only depend on the date to be determined by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak,” he said.

Azmin rejects snap polls suggestion, again

Selangor Menteri Besar wants to honour mandate given
to state government by voters in 2013 election, saying it must not be
cast aside for political expediency.

PETALING JAYA: The Selangor DAP’s push for snap elections in the
state following the Election Commission’s (EC) recent redelineation
proposals has hit a brick wall.

Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali, in a statement today, shot
down the suggestion mooted by Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua of the
DAP, saying the mandate delivered to the state government by voters in
the 2013 general election must be respected and should not be cast aside
for political expediency.

He was referring to Pua’s comments at a press conference earlier
today that it would be “stupid” to wait for after the redelineation
proposals were approved, as the EC’s move was a “clear cut case” of
racial electoral manipulation.

“Furthermore, at this time, it is both prudent and proper to support
the efforts of the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0)
and all political parties to facilitate voters to exercise their
constitutionally enshrined rights to object to the redelineation
proposed by the EC,” Azmin said, adding that his office was also
exploring other legal measures that could be pursued to uphold the
Constitution and the principle of representative democracy.

“Democracy can and should be defended by the people. The voters must
have their say to the EC. The Selangor Government will make every effort
to support and uphold democratic rights.”

Pua said earlier today that the EC’s redelineation proposals would
make it even harder for Pakatan Harapan (PH) to notch victories, if it
was passed.

“It would be ‘stupid’ of Pakatan Harapan to hold elections after the
redelineation is approved,” he said at the press conference which was
also attended by his DAP colleague, Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming.

However, Pua said he would leave it to the Pakatan Harapan leadership
to have the final say and that DAP would respect the views of its
partners.

His call for snap polls in the state comes days after DAP supremo Lim
Kit Siang made a similar suggestion in light of the redelineation
proposals made by the EC, which he described as having “butchered” the
map of Selangor.

Azmin had then poured cold water on the suggestion, making this the
second time PKR had rejected a call from its Opposition ally to hold
snap elections.

In July, PKR President Wan Azizah Wan Ismail had opposed DAP’s push
for snap elections to be held in Penang after its Chief Minister Lim
Guan Eng was charged with corruption on June 30.

Wan Azizah had said at the time, it had no confidence in the
proposal. There were also fears that PKR was at greater risk if snap
polls were held. - FMT News, 21/9/2016

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